{"id":3248,"date":"2017-03-13T06:44:01","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T10:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/?p=3248"},"modified":"2017-03-10T13:43:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T18:43:30","slug":"5-things-you-must-be-doing-on-your-website-that-will-increase-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/2017\/03\/13\/5-things-you-must-be-doing-on-your-website-that-will-increase-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things You MUST Be Doing on Your Website That WILL Increase Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amateur digital marketing \u201cexperts\u201d will suggest that when you aren\u2019t getting enough sales from your website, you definitely need more \u201ctraffic\u201d (visitors). In reality, the TRUTH IS … you do NOT need more traffic. More traffic traditionally equals window shoppers. What you need is to do is improve your websites \u201cconversation rates.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
\nSuffice it to say\u2014your web metrics may show that your site may be experiencing traffic<\/em>\u2014but THE FACT IS … those visitors are definitely NOT converting to \u201cpaying\u201d customers like you hope.<\/p>\n

Here is an insanely amazing fact.<\/strong><\/em>
\nFor every hundred dollars spent to bring customers to their website, businesses \/ companies will spend an anemic one dollar to convert them. And with already low conversion rates of one to three percent, the amount being spent to try to convert the vast majority of the traffic remains ridiculously low.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s examine five ways that you can employ immediately that will have an incredible impact on your site\u2019s \u201cconversion rates.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Speed up your website<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It may be common sense to you that a faster site would provide a better user-experience, and yet, the vast majority of websites have yet to fully understand why faster loading times translate into more dollars.<\/p>\n

A recent study showed that a goldfish has an attention span of nine (9) seconds. Conversely, the attention span of the average human being has plummeted from 12 seconds a decade ago … to just eight (8) seconds today. Translation: every second counts while trying to attract people on to your site.<\/em> You now know why every second counts once a prospective customer is on your site. According to recent data from Kissmetrics, a delay of only a single second can decrease your conversions by seven percent.
\nThe reality: get over unnecessary functions by realizing that you MUST cater to your attention-deficit visitor by accelerating your site\u2019s load times. And we suggest you make your site load quicker by disabling all gratuitous plug-ins, functionalities and features. At first, it will be difficult for you to sacrifice a little bit of your \u201ccool\u201d aesthetics … but take it from this 40-year marketing pro\u2014in the end your business will be rewarded instantly.<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Educating your customers provides \u201ctop of mind branding\u201d and makes your brand \u201cinvaluable\u201d & \u201cirresistible\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Delivering \u201cvalue\u201d puts your brand in a whole new class. Not even the biggest \u201cshopaholic\u201d customer likes to be bombarded with constant sales messages and gratuitously sold to 24\/7. Successful brands that educate their customers with meaningful content do NOT lose them to their competition. In fact, they gain their customers\u2019 loyalty and TRUST. Genuine customer education is not self-serving promotion that ONLY provides information on your products and services. Instead, it\u2019s relevant content that provides a prospect or customer with multiple options to choose from. One option is truthful comparisons with a competitor\u2019s product or service. The fact is, customers will choose the brand that goes above and beyond to educate and inform them on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n

Need an example? On one organic food website, the company asks its patrons\/visitors if they want to \u201clearn … or do … or both.\u201d<\/em> They also maintain a state-of-the-art \u201ccommunity\u201d blog where recipes and tips for healthier eating solutions are routinely shared. Beyond text, they also provide visually stunning recipe imagery with entertaining & engaging videos.<\/p>\n

3. Display your \u201ctrust\u201d signals<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

People do business with those that they \u201cknow, like & trust.\u201d Of the three, TRUST is the single largest reason that people will buy from you. In the case where people have to make online transactions, patrons want to be assured that their privileged data is safe and secure. They need to be 100 percent sure that their computers won\u2019t be susceptible to getting hacked, or infected from malware or ransomware. If your site doesn\u2019t boast security seals, it is likely that 50 percent of buyers visiting your site won\u2019t buy from you.<\/p>\n

Today the majority of the customers aren\u2019t the trusting kind. According to Forrester research, nearly 85 percent of customers who were surveyed did not feel that websites protected their privileged data. And nearly 80 percent of respondents told one market research company that they abandon online shopping sites when they suspect security concerns.<\/p>\n

Using a legitimate, trusted security seal from prominent brands and featuring them prominently goes a long way in building trust for your site. In addition, enable the SSL security protocol. Allow your customers be able to click on the \u201csecurity seal\u201d and verify for themselves so that they can see this is a genuine seal … and not just an image that has been copied and pasted onto your site.<\/p>\n

4. Leverage \u201ctestimonials\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Testimony is when your earlier customers verify to future customers just how much they love\/loved your products and services and exactly why your company is insanely great. Customers gravitate toward brands that have earlier blown away people. Some experts call this \u201csocial proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are different types of testimonials. From the larger brands, these often come from celebrities and prominent experts. Moreover, users and wisdom of the crowd and that of family and friends is a much more affordable option. Specific product endorsement is included in testimonials, rating and reviews, endorsements, social shares, and the like. From a behavioral psychological point of view, when prospects or customers see proof of your product through the use of testimonials, their decision making ability is clearly influenced and they are more likely to become \u201cbrand advocates,\u201d thus, following YOUR product regularly.<\/p>\n

Contrary to conventional wisdom, you should prominently display your clients, which is a testament of your great services. If you are that good, you will have built a \u201cfence around your customers\u201d and you will not worry that they will stray from you. Also, make your site interactive to encourage your customers to display their ratings and reviews.<\/p>\n

5. Use \u201cwhite noise\u201d to an advantage<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Psychologists and behavioral scientists site the phrase \u201csensory adaptation.\u201d This means that over time, the responsiveness of our sensory system to a particular stimulus decreases. \u201cSensory adaptation\u201d refers to an irritating noise that over time seems less irritating. Essentially it becomes \u201cwhite noise\u201d and is ignored after continuously hearing it.<\/p>\n

This can be leveraged and used to create a site design that provides constant stimulus to our senses (eyes & ears). Consider making your \u201ccall to action\u201d buttons with uniquely distinctive colors\u2014as compared to other design elements<\/em>\u2014so they stand apart from one another. Resist the temptation to be \u201cmatchy matchy\u201d in your design by introducing something disruptive that attracts attention. After all, you\u2019re not decorating a room or choosing an outfit. A radical element will provide an unique sensory stimulus, in addition to breaking an overtly monotonous design.<\/p>\n

Blessings to you always!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amateur digital marketing \u201cexperts\u201d will suggest that when you aren\u2019t getting enough sales from your website, you definitely need more \u201ctraffic\u201d (visitors). In reality, the TRUTH IS … you do NOT need more traffic. More traffic traditionally equals window shoppers. What you need is to do is improve your websites \u201cconversation rates.\u201d Suffice it to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3248"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3254,"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3248\/revisions\/3254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jcmcom.com\/jcmblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}